Project Guidelines!
If you're wondering what you're allowed to build, here's a quick guide on what we generally look for! Please keep in mind these are just guidelines, so always feel free to ask in #blueprint!
above all though, the bottom line is this: build something awesome, something that you would be proud to keep in your room for the next 5 years, and something that you would be proud to show other people
Overview
Here's an overall list of criteria that applies to all tiers, regardless of your budget/points.
Originality & idea
Almost every idea out there has been thought of before - what matters is that when designing it, which means that you do not do the following:
- Directly copy paste schematics
- Directly copy paste layouts
- Directly copy paste entire programs
- Directly copy paste 3D printed / manufactured models (reference parts are OK)
- In general, do not copy paste stuff directly - use them as references
Generally speaking, each project must be closer to a product than a demo - that doesn't mean go ultra advertising mode, but that does mean that a breadboarded together project with no case doesn't count.
Making multiple very-similar projects will also result in a decrease of ponits or a rejection (if they are too simillar).
(more to be added)
Tiers!
Blueprint has 5 different tiers! Here's a quick diagram on what each one of them are, what you get, and some example projects of each.git
Examples
Here are some examples of great projects by Hack Clubbers:
- @Ducc's Spotify Display, a Spotify Car Thing Clone
- @Cyao's Icepi Zero, an FPGA development dev board
- @vk6's Ender X4, a 4-toolhead 3D printer
Here are some examples of what not to build:
- Arduino alarm clock
- Humidity display
- Distance sensor
Here's some examples of how you could make those projects better:
- Arduino alarm clock, but it has custom LED lighting that syncs with the time of day & also has a slide switch instead of a button to control it
- A humidity display that's part of a larger weather station setup and compares the internal readings of your house to the outside world
- A distance sensor that checks if someone is coming to your room & sends an alert to your phone if they do
Shipping your project is the process of making it usable & understanding for other people. It means that someone should be able to look at your README.md file and know exactly what they need to do to build & use your project from scratch.
This is really important! It makes sure that your project is actually real and exists in the world, and not just as a file on your computer.
A good read on this can be found here: what is shipping?